Description

Can hybridization between species and races produce superior forest trees?" In the 1920's and 1930's, some lumbermen and scientists alike were asking this question. They were impressed by the work of Luther Burbank, whose improvements in vegetables and .flowers were being achieved by hybridization. And some of his hybrids far surpassed varieties previously available. Could not some of this techniques be tried to develop better forest trees? James G. Eddy and others interested in tree improvement provided a means of finding the answer. They founded at Placerville, California, the Eddy Forest Tree Breeding Station, now the Institute of Forest Genetics.